Climate and Ag in the news
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The Packer reported this week that while Florida blueberries have taken a hit this year from Hurricane Irma and recent frosts, they are still looking good for this year’s season, with plenty of berries available for harvest. Over 95 percent of growers reported some damage from weather this year, according to a survey of producers.…
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NOAA’s latest climate blog features a post from Kathryn Hansen of NASA on recent trends in the onset of spring as measured by ecologists at national parks across the US. They tabulated the time of blooms and first leaf of key species like cherries and looked the trends in those times to determine the onset…
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The Köppen-Geiger climate classification scheme is used by geographers to categorize different climate zones by temperature and precipitation. By looking at how those are likely to change over time, scientists have created this animated map showing how those zones are likely to move as the climate gets warmer. In the Southeast we don’t see many…
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The latest official reports on the 2017 hurricanes has been released. Hurricane Maria was the most powerful storm to hit Puerto Rico in modern times. Since it hit 201 days ago, there are still 100,000 citizens without power and many without safe drinking water. And the next hurricane season starts in a few weeks. You…
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According to some newly published research in the peer-reviewed Journal of Climate, the Sahara Desert has expanded by 10 percent since 1920. Many deserts form in the belt of sinking air located around 30 degrees N and S latitude. This sinking air is associated with the Hadley cell, a vertical circulation of air linked to…
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Do you remember all the agricultural damage from Hurricanes Harvey and Maria last year? Or from the wildfires in California? Congress voted in February to provide disaster aid to those farmers to the tune of $2.36 billion. But very little of that money has been paid to producers yet, causing them to become concerned and…
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The University of Florida IFAS Extension newsletter posted a good scientific review of temperature inversions in the atmosphere that you might find useful. For this time of year they are especially important to know about because some frost prevention methods like using fans or helicopters depend on the presence of an inversion to help bring…